Editor’s Note: This is one of a series of profiles of the Wisconsin Idea in action. See past profiles we have published.

For the School of Music, the key to connecting with the Madison community lies within the keys of a piano.

The program Piano Pioneers invites community members who can’t afford commercial lessons to take piano lessons with UW-Madison graduate students studying piano.

“There are so many students, so many people who don’t have the opportunity for any kinds of lessons in the arts,” says Piano Pioneers program coordinator Paola Savvidou. “It’s a great way for us to build experience as young teachers and also a great way for all the students to be exposed to something they wouldn’t have been exposed to otherwise.”

Doug Jurs, a Piano Pioneers teacher and UW-Madison graduate student in piano performance, believes that teaching music to people who couldn’t otherwise afford it is valuable to the music profession as much as it is to the individuals.

“I don’t want music, especially classical music, to be an elitist thing,” he says. “I think that makes music interesting when you have different perspectives from different kinds of people.”

The program is open to those with family incomes of less than $80,000 a year.

While the lessons cost $15 per half hour, students with family incomes of less than $40,000 are eligible for up to $10 scholarships per lesson. Those with incomes between $40,000 and $80,000 are eligible for up to $5 scholarships per lesson.

Scholarships are funded by donations from the Evjue Foundation and the Ward-Brodt Music Mall of Madison helps provide instrument rentals for students.

Now in its third year, Piano Pioneers currently enrolls 14 students, most of whom are children under age 10.

Students are accepted for two semesters but are encouraged to reapply for another year of lessons once the term is over.

However, according to Savvidou, a graduate student in piano performance and pedagogy, the program received some 30 applications, and Savvidou still gets weekly phone calls and e-mails asking about available spots.

Piano Pioneers has received a grant from the Ira and Ineva Reilly Baldwin Wisconsin Idea Endowment, which will allow the program to place a piano lab facility in one of the local schools and provide group piano lessons.

“I think a huge, important part of being an artist is reaching out to the community,” says Jurs. “So I think you’d get invaluable lessons if you went into the kids’ environments and see where they go to school and teach them in that environment.”

But regardless of background, both Jurs and Savvidou agree that learning music has inherent benefits for all kids, such as building self-confidence and discipline.

“I think music is the most powerful thing we have to teach all parts of the brain,” Jurs says. “It’s the only thing that I know of that teaches the emotional side of being a human as well as the analytical and mathematical things.”

Savvidou agrees. “Nobody else is able to express what you have to say,” she says. “Everybody has something different to say that is unique, and this is valued in all the piano lessons.”

And of course, part of expressing yourself is showing others what you can do. Piano Pioneers students participate in two recitals each semester.

“When they go up there on stage in front of 40 or 50 people in a recital hall, and they’re really nervous, I can completely identify with that,” Savvidou says. “But after a successful performance, you see the pure joy in their eyes, and that’s one of the most rewarding things.”

While the recitals are a chance for the kids to show off what they’ve learned, they’re also an opportunity for proud parents to gloat in their children’s successes.

“As soon as you become a parent, all you want for your kids is for them to do well and really try hard,” says Sonia Spencer, the mother of two Piano Pioneer students, Donovan and Carol (Cece) Spencer. “When they’re able to go to a recital and do the whole recital without messing up, that’s just amazing to see that your 8-year-old kid can do that.”

Spencer heard about Piano Pioneers through a program at her children’s school.

“I think them being able to play an instrument, any type of instrument, just helps them out in life, with school and just being well-rounded people,” she says. “It was one of those opportunities that you just take.”

Twins Donovan and Cece have been in the program for two years and will continue reapplying each year.

Similarly, Laurie Horton, mother of Piano Pioneers student Jacob Horton, 9, heard about the program from the music teacher at her son’s school.

“I could tell he had some musical ability, but we couldn’t find a piano teacher we could afford,” she says. “I think you couldn’t put a price on this program. It’s wonderful. In school they keep having to cut budgets and cut things they offer, and it’s a shame to lose the magic of music. I would love for a lot more people to have the opportunity to get into this program.”

Vicky Hitt, 16, applied for the program for a chance to work affordably with advanced piano teachers because she had musically outgrown her old one. She hopes to continue studying piano in college.

Hitt agrees that the program provides invaluable experiences to people who wouldn’t have them otherwise.

“I think [Piano Pioneers] is important mainly because a lot of people aren’t super rich. They can’t afford to pay $40 a lesson,” she says.

While the students and parents are grateful for the opportunity to learn music, both Savvidou and Jurs admit that the program greatly benefits the teachers, as well.

“I think it’s equally beneficial for both the student and the teacher,” Savvidou says. “The student gets something out of it that will last a lifetime. They’ll never forget taking piano lessons and they’ll never forget all the experience they had and all the skills they have acquired. And also for the teachers, it influences the way we perceive teaching and the way we’re gong to teach the next students. It stays with you.”